Syracuse, NY -- Destiny USA’s development team will be the first to admit it: One of the most anticipated openings at the growing Syracuse mall has nothing to do with clothing or entertainment and everything to do with lettuce wraps.

Yes, that would be P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. Its opening is right around the corner, if the corner is December and the date is Dec. 17.

No one, save a few future customers who have dined elsewhere at the upscale Asian food restaurant, has been more eager for its opening than its chef.

“I’ve been waiting for this to open (in Syracuse) for nine years,” said Michael Dean, culinary partner for the P.F. Chang’s at Destiny. “It was on the books to open in the Syracuse market six years ago, then it was off the books, then it was back on the books three years ago. I’m really excited about this. This is the best-designed kitchen I’ve seen yet by far and away, and I’ve opened probably 15 of these.”

Dean, a Chang’s veteran and native of Watkins Glen was giving The Post-Standard a tour last week of the new restaurant, a work-in-progress but oh-so-close.

This isn’t a Chang’s you’ve seen before, if you’ve visited any of the others in Upstate New York, including the closest, in Eastview Mall near Rochester.

Destiny’s is parked on what Dean admits is a hot corner of The Canyon region of the expansion of the mall, giving it good exposure — including the three-level exterior signage — and a position at the exterior entrance to the expansion at Solar Street.

That positioning wasn’t lost on the design team with P.F. Chang’s. The bar has windows giving patrons a view toward Hiawatha and downtown Syracuse.

The openness to the outside world — something different for a Chang’s design — extends to the dining area, which opens toward the Canyon region (similar to the openness of restaurant neighbors The Melting Pot and Cantina Laredo).

But an open kitchen at Destiny’s Chang’s? Not so much.

That signature touch of many Chang’s designs is not here. A wall with the touchstone Far East mural works typical of P.F. Chang’s restaurants separates the dining room from the kitchen. The design works well, says Dean.

Busy, noisy kitchens, said Dean, cuts down on diners’ abilities to have conversations at their tables, so that open kitchen, was sacrificed. But not for lack of an open design, which the chef loves. Just wait until the cooking begins.

“A burger is a burger and everybody has smelled a burger before, but when you walk in here, Chinese food trumps all other food,” said Dean. “You’ll be able to see it, smell it from all over.”

And that is — or will be — some busy kitchen.

Dean, already decked out in his black chef’s outfit, is raring to go, showing off the long service alley where servers pick up the hot food. Behind that, a lengthy cooking arena, including stations where all the food is chopped, diced and sliced.

“The interesting thing about Chinese food is the raw ingredients,” said Dean. “Everything is chopstick edible, so it has to be prepared that way.”

Portions remain consistently the same. A challenge for Chinese kitchens, said Dean, is making sure the food remains hot when it is served tableside. That’s part of his chef’s job: Making sure all the cooks time the various dishes going to each table so everyone’s meal is hot.

The wok stations are ready to fire up to help.

“A jet engine in a tin can,” said Dean of the high-tech cookers. “The super-high flame boils water almost immediately.”

Behind the kitchen, the prep area. Throughout the day, a dozen employees are prepping meat and other ingredients as well as the seven brands of fresh-made dumplings.

Dean is hiring 55 employees for kitchen, another 80 for the front of the house.

“On any given Saturday, we’ll have 20 servers on the floor, just to give you an idea,” said Dean.

Destiny’s developers say the anticipation from Chang’s fans has been palpable. Rob Schoeneck, the mall’s general managers, said Destiny has had more interest and inquiries from shoppers than any other potential restaurant tenant coming to the mall.

And Destiny — and the former Carousel Center — almost lost Chang’s. It was at one time planned for the now-shelved redevopment of ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt. That was when the mall was owned by Rochester-based Wilmorite Inc. — which brought the first P.F. Chang’s Upstate to Wilmorite’s Eastview Mall, in Victor, near Rochester.

Express checkout

Noise along the retail front involves department store giant Sears coming to Destiny USA. Whether it will be a third Sears for Onondaga County or there’s packing-and-moving on tap for Sears, no one is confirming.

Similarly — unconfirmed, but drumbeats — there’s renewed talk about a hotel for somewhere around the Destiny property.

Store Front run Fridays in CNY and Sundays in The Post-Standard Business section, and blog.syracuse.com/storefront is updated regularly. The Store Front e-newsletter is delivered Wednesday mornings to Friends of Store Front. Contact Bob Niedt at bniedt@syracuse.com. You can call Bob at 315-470-2264.